Nagai Aruki
Long Walk (CB9) was a Hida city Secrets of the Crab, p. 17 near the Wall above the Ocean mountains in the Garanto province, Secrets of the Crab, p. 96 which produced oddly, unique blends of tea, The Atlas of Rokugan, p. 12 and was used as the family's center of trade Secrets of the Crab, p. 16 Layout The "city" was constructed in one of the rare areas of fertile land within the lands of the Crab Clan. It was a popular trade center for miners and other craftsmen of the Twilight Mountains and the eastern Crab lands. Game Master's Guide; 2nd Ed, p. 24 To protect the rice paddies, bridges were built to connect the numerous shops and trading houses over a total area of over three square miles. It was an uncharacteristically inconvenient city for a clan that typically favored more practical architecture, but the Hida would not have it any other way. Secrets of the Crab, pp. 16-17 The name, Long Walk, came from the need to walk many miles over bridges just to find a particular shop or person you were looking for. Legend of the Five Rings; Third Edition, p. 287 It was a popular trade center for miners and other craftsmen of the Twilight Mountains and the eastern Crab lands. The majority of the village is made up of worker's quarters atid shops, and the rest is settled among the arable farmland, in small pockets of civilization surrounded by bridges over thickly watered rice paddies. Business in Nagai Aruki While most would find better hospitality in the Yasuki or Kaiu provinces, Nagai Aruki was home to some of the most talented Hida artisans, most having been trained by Kaiu masters. When a visitor would wish to trade with the Hida, they would have to navigate the maze of bridges and waterways to find what they sought. The craftsmen would then usually force them to place a special order and wait for several weeks while they completed previous orders for Hida family members. The process was a testament to Hida arrogance, firmly reminding outsiders that all business would be on their terms. The Hida claimed they did not understand why some visitors found Nagai Aruki so inconvenient. A Crab wishing to obtain goods from the city would not suffer the frustrations an outsider might. Stewards A particular ashigaru family in Nagai Aruki was rewarded the hereditary position as stewards over the city, and any visiting Crab were greeted by the head of the family after their arrival. The visitor would be invited to stay in the family's home, which was extraordinarily comfortable for a peasant's house, and then the family would act as the guest's personal retainers, running errands and conducting business on the visitor's behalf. In addition to their duties to visitng Crab within Nagai Aruki, the head of the family would also travel to the Hida castles every three months to determine what supplies they would need. In the second half of the 12th century the main stewards of Nagai Aruki were Haru and his family. Category:Garanto province